Is my wine going to be oxydized?

[Adam Beck]

So I had 75 lbs of Cab Franc that I crushed last week. It fermented faster than I expected and last night when I checked it was at 0.99 gravity, while still in the initial fermentation bucket. I transferred it to a carboy with an airlock, but awhile doing so my pump broke, so about halfway through I had to just get the juice out with a ladle and pour it through a funnel into the 3 gallon carboy. So there were two times when it could have gotten too much oxygen: while sitting in the fermentation bucket for maybe a day or so too long, and while pouring it into the carboy.

I've never made a red wine before (I've just done a couple fruit wines in the past), and I know that oxidation is a big concern, so I'm wondering if this is going to be problematic. I plan on topping off the carboy with argon (as soon as it arrives from Amazon) to mitigate any further oxygenation issues.

 

[Johnd]

So I had 75 lbs of Cab Franc that I crushed last week. It fermented faster than I expected and last night when I checked it was at 0.99 gravity, while still in the initial fermentation bucket. I transferred it to a carboy with an airlock, but awhile doing so my pump broke, so about halfway through I had to just get the juice out with a ladle and pour it through a funnel into the 3 gallon carboy. So there were two times when it could have gotten too much oxygen: while sitting in the fermentation bucket for maybe a day or so too long, and while pouring it into the carboy.

I've never made a red wine before (I've just done a couple fruit wines in the past), and I know that oxidation is a big concern, so I'm wondering if this is going to be problematic. I plan on topping off the carboy with argon (as soon as it arrives from Amazon) to mitigate any further oxygenation issues.

It shouldn't be a problem, we expose our reds to lots of oxygen during the pressing and racking operations all the time. The wine is so laden with CO2 that it protects it pretty well. I'm assuming you've already pressed it, and if you're not doing MLF, then go ahead and get it sulfited, as the sulfite will protect agains oxidation as well.

 

[Adam Beck]

Awesome, thanks for easing my concerns! I pressed last night and am fermenting the pressed juice in a separate carboy. Still not sure about MLF.